A Honduran sea captain pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday for his alleged involvement in a scheme which attempted to bring immigrants and cocaine into the United States in early 2022.
Darrell Martinez, 41, submitted a guilty plea May 18 to one count of conspiracy to bring undocumented workers into the United States and to another count of conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine.
Martinez is accused of attempting to bring dozens of Latin American citizens into the United States illegally in a scheme allegedly run by the Dynamic Capacity Group, a Pittsburgh corporate entity, from December 2021 to February 2022.
His codefendants, Carl Allison, Lindomar de la Rosa and Josue Villeda are among the eight indicted who were also allegedly a part of the operation — meant to bring over people sometimes to be with their families but in many cases to sell drugs for the entity, government prosecutors say.
The smuggling operation ended in February 2022 when Martinez boarded Allison's ship, the M/V Pop, in Honduras and steered it to Cocodrie. About 100 miles off of the coast of Louisiana, his ship, which contained more than a dozen Honduran nationals and about 24 kilograms of cocaine, ran out of fuel.
Two of Martinez's codefendants, de la Rosa and Villeda, tried to rescue the ship and its occupants in a charter boat, but the United States Coast Guard got there first.
Martinez was subsequently indicted on the two counts. He is the second man to plead guilty in the case. Josue Villeda pleaded guilty to two similar counts on April 2.
Martinez's sentencing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sept. 14. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of no more than $10 million.